Friends?
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: [HighSchool!AU] Harry didn't know who that, now familiar, stranger was, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Preslash.


Catching sight of the, now familiar, raven hair of the boy he had been seeing ridiculously often lately, Harry let out a sigh. Harry wasn't even sure if the other boy was in the same year as him, but he definitely wasn't in any of his classes, or Harry would have known him. Harry knew everyone in his classes, whether he liked them or not.

Harry quickly maneuvered himself into a busy corridor that was, technically, the longer route to his next class, but he didn't really care. This was probably the fourth time he had seen the other boy just today, and it was barely even lunch! Harry had seen the other boy nearly _seven_ times yesterday, and if Harry didn't know better he would think the other boy was following him around. And Harry definitely didn't know better.

So Harry had taken to avoiding the other boy, because that was the best option, right? Who knew what the other boy would do if he actually managed to catch Harry off-guard. Harry shivered, not knowing whether to be curious or terrified. More curious than terrified, but his mother had always told him to stay on the safe side of any situation he was uncertain of.

Asking around for the other boy's identity had proven fruitless due to Harry's terrible descriptions. Apparently "neat black hair", "blue eyes" and "tall" weren't descriptive enough. But how in the world did you describe everything else? Were they different? Harry had never noticed that they were, so had a difficult time describing the differences he had never known where there…

And-oh, there he was again! Harry quickened his pace, hoping to get to class before the other boy got any closer. This was beginning to feel like a ridiculous game of cat and mouse, and Harry was, unfortunately, the very scared mouse. A scared mouse who didn't know what he was scared of.

 _Brilliant._

"Harry!"

The groan that threatened to escape him was only barely supressed as he turned to face Ron's little sister, Ginny. He would have simply continued walking if he hadn't met eyes with the girl first. It would be rude to do so now, but Harry just _reallyreallyreally_ wanted to go.

The girl latched onto his arm, making Harry more than a little uncomfortable both at the proximity of Ginny and _that boy_. Could Ginny not have chosen a worse time to have a silly conversation?

"Hi Ginny," Harry said, hands beginning to fidget as frustration began growing within him. He had been so close to evasive escape! Now there was no hope, he could see the other boy out of the corner of his eye, and Harry had a sinking feeling that the boy wasn't going to just pass them.

"Isn't your class on the other side of the school? What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything," Ginny questioned, just as Harry was certain if the other boy exhaled too much, he would feel the air on his neck.

Harry let out a nervous laugh, "I thought I'd have a bit of a change of scenery. Seeing the same thing every day starts to get boring after a while, you know."

Ginny nodded seriously, the arm she had wrapped around Harry's not moving a bit. Harry could see her mouth opening to say something more before she was interrupted.

"Harry."

It was a voice that Harry certainly didn't recognise, from the mouth of a person Harry was pretty sure was stalking him. This wasn't a particularly good position to be in, Harry thought idly, noting that Ginny's expression had changed to something akin to shock.

"You know him, Harry?"

Harry assumed that Ginny knew who his stalker was then. He couldn't tell much else from her reaction.

"Of course he does," the other boy answered for him, his arm casually laying on Harry's other shoulder.

No. No, they didn't, Harry thought frantically, but he wasn't given the opportunity to argue this as he was already being tugged in the general direction of the fastest route to his next class, which happened to be the way he had been coming from.

"Now, if you don't mind, we're going to be late for class at this rate, Weasley."

Harry was lucky Ginny's hands had loosened slightly, or he was sure he would have dislocated his shoulder, or something equally wonderful. Harry still remembered the time he had gotten bruises from Ginny's tight hold. It had been years since then, but Harry didn't want a repeat performance.

"Who the hell are you?" Harry hissed once they were out of Ginny's earshot.

The boy turned slightly to look at Harry with a half-smirk lighting his features, "My, Harry, I _am_ surprised you don't know me."

Harry scowled. "Just tell me who you are!"

"I am Tom Riddle," the boy said, still not removing his arm from around Harry's shoulders despite the fact that it was causing quite a bit of a disturbance in the hallway they were now passing through.

Harry had a moment of realisation. He knew _of_ Tom Riddle, and this was apparently him. His surprise would have caused him some embarrassment if he wasn't so annoyed already, "Okay, _Tom_ , why the hell have I been seeing you so many times every day? You're in none of my classes! _I_ didn't know you until today."

Harry, unfortunately, couldn't act like he didn't know that Tom existed, because he had _obviously_ noticed the boy following him, and Harry's intelligence was already "on the rocks" in Hermione's opinion. He didn't need to be demoted to "lacking intelligence", not this soon at least.

Tom nodded, "But _I_ knew you. Well, I found out about you by chance, but I find you interesting. So, I've been trying to approach you for weeks, but you always seem to be able to evade me. I'm rather grateful that Weasley girl stopped you, or who knows how long it would have taken to finally talk to you."

"Well, hurry it up, or I'm going to be late for class!" Harry hissed, shrugging the other boy's arm off his shoulders finally.

Tom rolled his eyes. "You act like I don't have to be in class. Very well, I'll speed things up then. I'd like to get to know you better. The _real_ Harry Potter, not the one I hear about from everyone else, because no one can possibly be that kind _all the time_."

Harry raised an eyebrow, mentally questioning whether that was a compliment or insult. From what he had heard of Tom Riddle, it could quite easily be either.

"So, I guess what I'm really saying is that I would like to spend some time getting to know you. You know, becoming friends, maybe…" the other boy trailed off just as they reached Harry's classroom.

Harry couldn't really see the harm in that. He could do friendship.

"Alright," Harry nodded. "Friends."

Tom sent him a small smile in return, before walking in what Harry assumed was the direction of his next class. And Harry slipped into the back of his class with little fuss.

 **Written for OTP AU 2 Competition [We have zero classes together so how do I see you 5 times a day?!AU]**


End file.
